Gary Numan (born Gary Webb on 8 March 1958) is a English singer, composer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of commercial electronic music and has been described as the "King of synthpop".Numan is widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" (with Tubeway Army) and "Cars". His signature style combines gloomy themes of depersonalisation and alienation accompanied by energetic synthesizer work.
Numan bewildered the music press. He was a driven, creative, angst-ridden 21-year-old loner who still lived with his parents at the peak of his success. While angry like his punk contemporaries Numan could not relate to the specific political issues they were singing about. Around this time, Numan also developed his distinctive style. Numan claims this was an unintentional result of acne. Before an appearance on Top of the Pops he had "spots everywhere, so they slapped about half an inch of white makeup on me before I'd even walked in the door. And my eyes were like pissholes in the snow, so they put black on there. My so-called image fell into place an hour before going on the show." Numan claims his "wooden" stage presence was a result of extreme self consciousness and lack of talent. He also wore costumes and openly proclaimed his influences: David Bowie, Marc Bolan and contemporary electronic acts such as John Foxx's Ultravox. His persona was aloof, alien and androgynous. Numan was not seen to be part of the punk or New Romantic movements. During this period, Numan generated an army of fans calling themselves "Numanoids", providing him with a fanbase which maintained their support through the latter half of the 1980s, when his fortunes began to fall precipitously.